


tripping on stars

by yunnings (ladylolli)



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Reunions, old school writing-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 11:58:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4828337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladylolli/pseuds/yunnings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>i'm coming home.</i> Rei notifies him. 3 words. “I'm coming home” sweeter than “I love you”s. Nagisa screams with caps and garbled words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tripping on stars

**Author's Note:**

> title from actually tripping on sta(i)rs while texting [knaire](http://archiveofourown.org/users/knaire/pseuds/knaire)
> 
> beta credits: iris (bless ✧)
> 
> a/n: _italics – instant msg’ing/convo; [caption of IG pic]_

Separated by miles of land and sea. Long distance relationship. _you never know_ , Nagisa types.  
  
_know what?_  
  
_that we're separated by miles._ There's a cheeky smile on Nagisa as he adds, _not so smart now are you, Mr. smarty pants._  
  
His giggles turned heads.

-

_i'm coming home._ Rei notifies him. 3 words. “I'm coming home” sweeter than “I love you”s. Nagisa screams with caps and garbled words.  
  
_WHEN. OMGOMGOMG. WHAT FLIGHT WHAT PLANE WHAT TIME OMG REI WELCOME HOM-_  
  
And then, 10 minutes later as he got help and boarded the bus:  
_oh gosh i almost tripped on stars._  
_i mean stairs*._  
  
Nagisa's heart is in his throat, fear and exhilaration between the almost-tumble and Rei's flight home.  
  
Home.  
  
_welcome home, rei._ It's simple, calm and nothing turbulent as the Nagisa Rei knows.

-

They take pictures of clouds and stars which Rei asserts are actually satellites. Scientists, Nagisa snorts, forgetting his job as an astronomer for the moment.  
  
_[drifting on clouds]_ , captions Rei, tagging @nagisa. It's a stereotypical on-the-plane-somewhere photo, but it’s picture perfect with respect to angles, lighting, exposure and contrast, variables meticulously calculated to perfection.  
  
He means to exit IG but gets distracted: Rei scrolls through the many photos of satellite-stars captioned by @nagisa _[are these satellites or stars? (I still think they're stars)]_ , smiles fondly and sits back for the 12 hour flight home.

-

When he checks IG again, there's a message:  
  
Baby blue sky adorned with white clouds. _[@rei's crossing the milky way]_. He almost misses the _missing you_ , hidden between comments of ‘welcome back’s and Rin’s odd  ‘congratulation’.

Fingers fly on keyboard: _missing you too_. Rei remembers to tag @nagisa in case the message gets buried in dozens of comments again.

-

> / Interlude
> 
> _‘congratulations’?_ Rei types. He pushes his glasses up, puzzled. That is not a standardised reaction. ‘welcome back’s are, but not Rin’s ‘congratulation’s. _to what?_ Rei inquires.
> 
> 3 dancing dots. Rin’s online. And then replaced by, _hey!_
> 
> He stops typing halfway, ‘hello’ becoming ‘hell’, and fingers instinctively moving to press ‘enter’, at Rin’s reply:
> 
> _to being lovey-dovey again {smug face emote}_
> 
> _hell-_

-

Nagisa's an astronomer in the making. Clouds and stars and the blue sky.  
  
_[good morning]_ , one shows. The ball of sunlight burns bright in his eyes, even if it's a photograph. Clouds illuminate white. The caption continues, [ _it's gonna rain soon {umbrella emote}]_

_Oh,_ Rei notes. The bottoms of clouds lightly swelling with grey, bogged down by water droplets. Rei thinks the grey might be a work of physics, of light and shadow, than rain.  
  
_why are you hurting yourself,_ Rei questions, _to look at the sun?_  
  
Moments later, amending the unintentional harsh tone from before:  
_why do you look at the sky?_

He never understood the aesthetics of clouds nor motivations behind cloud-watching.  
  
The reply is instantaneous:  
_silly! the sky connects us that's why!_ and meant ‘I think of you when I look at the sky’.  
  
Nagisa quickly captures contrails and vapour trails, edits by adding in smaller font and leaving it unfiltered:  
_[I imagine that you're on the plane]_ and presses 'send'.  
  
He can almost imagine the fluster on Rei's expression. Scrambling, fumbling, long awkward limbs. Flushed ears and drooped shoulders. Maybe guilt flashing in his eyes for leaving Nagisa alone here while he's halfway across the globe.  
  
He doesn't mind but Rei still agonises over it, Nagisa knows. It's still fun to poke fun at anyway, so Nagisa waits patiently with mischievous grin and twinkling eyes. “But are we all,” he climbs aboard the bus to Lost Stars on his iPod. “-lost stars,” Adam Levine croons, “trying to light up the dark?”

-

This is Rei's answer:  
  
A lone star (Polaris), brighter than any other. The shot was titled [ _way back to @nagisa]_.  
  
Rei meant: _you are my true north._

He lays back as Ed Sheeran’s All of the Stars plays:  
_all of these stars /  
will guide us home_

-

Nagisa is surprised to find Altair and Vega on Japanese skies. It takes a moment before he recognises that yes, it's August, and yes, it's Tanabata. He vaguely recalls that those 'bookmarks' were actually Tanabata slips. Oops. The plane's lights blink beneath the Milky Way. Nagisa takes a pic, posts and captions it.  
  
_[hikoboshi & orihime]  
[and @rei coming back home]_

**Author's Note:**

> ~~I can't omake~~


End file.
